<p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">A proud resident of Burlington, Nikhil has taught sociology at the University of Vermont, served as a senior policy advisor on education and children on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders, and was elected to represent Vermont as a delegate for Kamala Harris to the Democratic National Convention. He graduated with a BA from Goddard College and a MPhil and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><u>Endorsed by:</u></strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Vermont State Employees Association</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Vermont-NEA</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Vermont AFL-CIO</strong></span></p>

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<p><strong>Our campaign is powered by YOU.</strong></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Please sign up to knock on doors, make phone calls, write postcards, host a house party, or volunteer in any capacity.</strong></span></p><span class="image image-framed image-center" style="width: 100%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/01ba473c-c373-4764-a324-549c6eb1e95b/01ba473c-c373-4764-a324-549c6eb1e95b.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C665%2C485&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="Nikhil (far right) marching for voting rights in Selma with John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, and other civil rights leaders" align="center" alignwidth="50" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="">Nikhil (far right) marching for voting rights in Selma with John Lewis, Jesse Jackson, and other civil rights leaders</span></span>

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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Nikhil Goyal "has a command of the history of federal, state and local education laws and social programs."</h2><small><h5 style="text-align: center;"><em>August 2023</em></h5></small><span class="image image-base image-center" style="width: 50%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/2a1ea2ac-e68a-4973-baef-9eb9fbaabf62/2a1ea2ac-e68a-4973-baef-9eb9fbaabf62.png?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C174%2C600%2C117&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="center" alignwidth="25" variant="base"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span>

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<p></p><span class="image image-framed image-left image-tilt-left" style="width: 35%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/e3b1dec8-ff09-4185-81f1-32e16c2bdc4d/e3b1dec8-ff09-4185-81f1-32e16c2bdc4d.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C17%2C2987%2C1921&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="left" alignwidth="35" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span><h5>The son of Indian immigrants, Nikhil is a sociologist, educator, and policymaker who lives in Burlington.</h5><h5>Lauded by the <em>New York Times</em> for his “command of . . . federal, state, and local education laws, and social programs,” he brings deep policy expertise, progressive values, and a strong record of fighting for children, families, and public schools in Vermont.</h5><h5><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Vermont, where he conducts research on juvenile justice for his next book under contract with Harvard University Press. He has taught sociology at the University of Vermont, Wesleyan University, and New York University.&nbsp;</span></h5><span class="image image-framed image-right" style="width: 50%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/e9e08613-989e-4f28-8e13-a01e808e991c/e9e08613-989e-4f28-8e13-a01e808e991c.png?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C103%2C3024%2C1513&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="right" alignwidth="50" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span><h5>Nikhil has influenced policy at the state and federal levels. He was one of the leaders of the coalition that opposed the passage of Act 73, the new education reform law. As a sociologist and member of Vermont School Workers United, he spoke at and helped organize more than a dozen town halls and rallies from Burlington to Westford to Hardwick.</h5><h5>In partnership with ACLU Vermont, Nikhil led a coalition of civil rights organizations and former officials from the Biden, Clinton, and Carter administrations to support and strengthen Vermont’s Raise the Age juvenile justice law that has shown clear success in rehabilitating youth and helping them desist from crime.</h5><h5>From 2021 to 2023, Nikhil served as senior policy advisor on education and children on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.</h5><span class="image image-framed image-left" style="width: 40%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/7eb8c356-1133-4d6f-80b5-3341a640de0a/7eb8c356-1133-4d6f-80b5-3341a640de0a.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=15%2C106%2C1101%2C923&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="left" alignwidth="40" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span><h5><strong>In 2024, he was elected by Vermont Democrats to serve as a national delegate for Kamala Harris to the Democratic National Convention.</strong></h5><h5>Nikhil is the author of <em>Live to See the Day: Coming of Age in American Poverty </em>(Metropolitan/Macmillan), which was named A Best Book of 2023 by <em>The New Yorker</em>, won the Media for a Just Society Book Award, and was touted by the <em>Washington Post</em>: “the stories of these children will change the way you think about poverty.</h5><span class="image image-framed image-center image-tilt-left" style="width: 100%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/8d5585ec-d754-4049-ad82-88a294413d92/8d5585ec-d754-4049-ad82-88a294413d92.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=645%2C88%2C5355%2C4697&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="center" alignwidth="50" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span><h5>He earned his BA at Goddard College and MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge. He was also a Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace at Middlebury College.</h5><h5>If elected, Nikhil will join the Senate Democratic Caucus.&nbsp;</h5>

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<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">I look forward to speaking with you.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">-Nikhil</span></p><span class="image image-framed image-center" style="width: 100%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/2af14991-1295-46df-a3b2-f8b9f877ad4e/2af14991-1295-46df-a3b2-f8b9f877ad4e.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C860%2C2394%2C2209&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="center" alignwidth="50" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-text-accent-secondary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text-accent-secondary);">I'd love to hear from you.</span></h2>

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<h2>It's time for leadership that delivers for working people.</h2>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Protect Public Education and Tackle Cost Drivers of Rising Property Taxes</span></h4>

<h4>Establish Universal Primary Care</h4>

<h4>Build Affordable Housing and Fix Up Vacant, Dilapidated Housing</h4>

<h4>Impose a Moratorium on AI Data Centers and Ban Social Media for Kids under 16</h4>

<h4>Protect our Neighbors from ICE</h4>

<h5><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Property taxes, health care costs, the rent, mortgages, and energy bills are out of control. Our public schools are under attack. Our immigrant neighbors are being kidnapped on our streets.</span></h5><h5><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">It's time to fight for an agenda that </span><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">makes life affordable</span><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"> and delivers economic security and dignity for </span><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">every Vermonter</span><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">.</span></h5>

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<h1>I'm running for Vermont State Senate in Chittenden-Central to make sure no Vermonter is priced out.</h1>

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<h1>Endorsements</h1>

<h1>Volunteer</h1>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-secondary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-secondary);">Endorsements</span></h2>

<h6>Former Lieutenant governor</h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Doug Racine</span></h4>

<h6>Former state representative</h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Mary Sullivan</span></h4>

<h6>resident of williston</h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Wilmer Chavarria</span></h4>

<h6>former secretary of state and state representative</h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Don Hooper</span></h4>

<h6>state representative</h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Gayle Pezzo</span></h4>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Kate McCann</span></h4>

<h6><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">former state representative</span></h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Bob Stannard</span></h4>

<h6>environmentalist</h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Bill McKibben</span></h4>

<h6>Co-founders of ben &amp; jerry's</h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield</span></h4>

<h6>social worker, artist, resident of burlington</h6>

<h4><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Megan Humphrey</span></h4>

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<h1><br>Meet Nikhil</h1>

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Nikhil Goyal is running for Vermont State Senate to deliver structural change.

Nikhil Goyal for Vermont State Senate

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Sociologist and policymaker Nikhil Goyal is running for Vermont State Senate. 

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<p>Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. Many are struggling to make ends meet amid rising health care costs, draconian Trump tariffs, and growing public safety issues.&nbsp;</p><p>Nikhil’s health care proposals will help reduce costs for employers. He supports strengthening procurement policies to support local economies and making it easier for entrepreneurs to get capital to start businesses.&nbsp;</p><p>He is also a strong critic of Amazon and other corporations that suppress competition and undermine small businesses and entrepreneurs.&nbsp;</p>

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<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Support Our Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs</span></h2>

<p>Growing rents and mortgages are making life too expensive. <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil believes that we cannot solve our health care, property tax, and workforce challenges without solving housing affordability</strong></span>. More than half of renters and nearly a quarter of homeowners in Chittenden County are cost burdened. Homelessness has more than doubled in the past few years. Vermont needs to create at least 24,000 new homes to keep up with demand. The simple truth is that we need to build many more homes to control rents, expand homeownership, and make it easier for young people to raise a family and seniors to downsize and retire with dignity.</p><p>We need both public and market-oriented solutions to the housing crisis. <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil fights to build all types of affordable housing to create dense, walkable neighborhoods</strong></span>. He wants to <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">establish a land bank for the state</strong></span> that would take over abandoned, distressed, and foreclosed properties—nearly 11,000 across Vermont—and turn them into permanently affordable housing units.&nbsp;</p><p>Nikhil supports <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">reforms to the permit review process</strong></span> to speed up and reduce the costs of housing development while protecting the natural environment and character of Vermont.&nbsp;</p><p>Nikhil supports more <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">funding for home repair programs</strong></span> that help low- and middle-income homeowners weatherize, modernize, and rehabilitate their homes for energy efficiency.&nbsp;</p><p>Burlington, Winooski, and Essex residents overwhelmingly approved just cause evictions ballot measures. This prevents tenants from being evicted for “no cause,” while still allowing landlords to evict tenants who do not pay their rent and violate their leases. Governor Phil Scott vetoed the charter change. As your State Senator, Nikhil will fight to <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">enact just cause eviction policy</strong></span>. Some <a href="https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2022/Docs/BILLS/H-0708/H-0708%20As%20Introduced.pdf">exclusions</a> could be owner-occupied dwellings, properties expected to go up for sale and in need of major renovations, and small-time landlords that own a few units. The <a href="https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/burlingtons-just-cause-eviction-bill-clears-house-with-changes-34924641/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">House</a> passed a version of this policy in 2022 that is worth pursuing.</p><p>Nikhil supports the University of Vermont Student Tenant Union, which has been working tirelessly to expose and improve deplorable conditions in student accommodations and find solutions to the growing housing crisis in Burlington. <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">UVM must rehabilitate and modernize student housing and follow the city housing code</strong></span>. Every UVM student deserves safe, accessible, and dignified housing.</p>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Build Affordable Housing and Protect Tenants</span></h2>

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<p></p><span class="image image-framed image-left image-tilt-left" style="width: 40%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/344a6853-d37d-48a3-958d-e2c4a8773b53/344a6853-d37d-48a3-958d-e2c4a8773b53.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C3600%2C2400&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="left" alignwidth="40" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span><p></p><p></p><p>Nikhil is the <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">proud son of Indian immigrants who came to this country to pursue the American Dream</strong></span>. He loves that Vermont is home to so many immigrants and refugees who contribute to our economy and way of life.&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Abolishing ICE is the conservative position. It is time to prosecute ICE. </strong></span></p><p>When Mohsen and Rümeysa and immigrant farmworkers and construction workers were kidnapped by ICE, he spoke up at rallies in their defense.</p><span class="image image-framed image-right image-tilt-left" style="width: 45%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/60d3fe06-7762-4111-8a0e-fcd43d3530f8/60d3fe06-7762-4111-8a0e-fcd43d3530f8.png?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C71%2C2960%2C1603&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="right" alignwidth="45" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span><p></p><p>When the Trump administration announced a new ICE surveillance center in Williston, he joined fellow Vermonters to protest. He has <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">fought against deportations, family separation, and human rights abuses</strong></span> throughout his career.</p><p>As your State Senator, <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil will use his platform and voice to <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">stand up for the safety and dignity of immigrants and accompany them to their court hearings and check-ins with ICE.</strong></span></p><span class="image image-framed image-center" style="width: 80%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/4d49ed61-8e8e-4330-aab0-c45893ca9ff4/4d49ed61-8e8e-4330-aab0-c45893ca9ff4.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C840%2C560&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="center" alignwidth="40" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Defend Our Immigrant Neighbors</span></h2>

<p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">We deserve to walk down the street without fear of harassment or bodily harm. As a criminal justice expert and prison educator, <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil has dedicated his career to strengthening public safety and expanding educational and economic opportunities that address the root causes of crime</strong>.&nbsp;</span></p><span class="image image-framed image-left image-tilt-left" style="width: 40%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/4f2038e4-64ad-4eb9-81e2-9fb4f8b45b1a/4f2038e4-64ad-4eb9-81e2-9fb4f8b45b1a.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=302%2C147%2C1610%2C1218&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="left" alignwidth="40" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil taught sociology classes for incarcerated men at a medium-security prison in New York State through New York University’s Prison Education Program. He strongly supports and will work to expand the Vermont Corrections Post-Secondary Education Initiative, which provides tuition-free community college to incarcerated students and correctional staff in our state prisons and extends the benefit to children and spouses of correctional staff.</span> College-in-prison is one of the most effective programs to reduce recidivism and provide people leaving from prison with the credentials and skills necessary to reintegrate, find a job, and desist from crime.&nbsp;</p><p>A small minority of people are committing the vast majority of crimes, and many of them are experiencing homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness. Our small businesses are reeling from exploding rates of retail theft and quality-of-life offenses. This cannot go on.&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil has a smart-on-crime plan to make our communities safer:</strong></span></p><ul><li><p>The new Chittenden County Community Accountability Court designed to reduce the court backlog and deliver speedy justice is long overdue.</p></li><li><p>Target interventions and resources at repeat offenders. Some chronic offenders who are repeatedly harming themselves or the safety of the public and refusing treatment, may need to be held in secure confinement. That should be the last resort, because incarceration is expensive and ineffective at deterring crime. &nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Expand our Raise the Age law to emerging young adults so more youth can get rehabilitative treatment, such as restorative justice, in the juvenile system. One study found that the juvenile system's recidivism rate was nearly half of that of the adult system. We must also finally provide the Department for Children and Families with adequate resources and staffing to carry out this important work.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Implement cognitive behavioral therapy, functional family therapy, and multisystemic therapy—all evidence-based treatment options found to significantly reduce crime and far cheaper than throwing a person in jail or prison. Expanding summer, afterschool, and jobs programs and keeping school buildings open for activities during the evening and weekend hours are also essential.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Establish an overdose prevention center. Once it is set up, people can consume illicit drugs safely under the supervision of trained medical staff. If they consume drugs anywhere else in public, they should face swift and sharp consequences. Our children deserve to play in City Hall Park without fear of getting pricked by a needle.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Expand treatment for substance use disorder, particularly long-term care.&nbsp;</p></li><li><p>Enact additional gun-safety measures, such as banning assault-style weapons as well as banning firearms in bars.&nbsp;</p></li></ul>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Strengthen Public Safety and Tackle Gun Violence</span></h2>

<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Climate change poses an existential threat to all life on this planet, and we must respond decisively.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">We all deserve clean air and water and a healthy, habitable planet. The effort to clean up Lake Champlain has been ongoing for decades, and Nikhil <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">supports bold action to reduce phosphorous pollution</strong> in order to improve water quality, health, and tourism.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">We spend more than $2 billion annually on fossil fuels—more than 75 percent of which leaves the Vermont economy.</span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">By <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">investing in electrification, energy efficiency, battery storage, weatherization, electric vehicle chargers, and restoring wetlands</strong>, we can keep more of our dollars in the Vermont economy, create thousands of living-wage jobs, cut energy bills, improve flood resilience, and make progress on our climate goals.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil calls on <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">all new commercial buildings to be solar-ready</strong> and new residential and commercial buildings with parking to <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">include electric vehicle charging stations</strong>.</span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">supports bringing catamounts back to Vermont and working towards creating a national park in the state to ensure permanent conservation of land. </strong></span><br></p>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Protect Our Environment</span></h2>

<p>Vermonters are paying the highest health care premiums in the country. Health care costs in school budgets are the single biggest driver of skyrocketing property taxes. It’s only going to get worse with the Trump administration’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill. The legislation is throwing some 45,000 Vermonters off of Medicaid and more than doubling premiums for 30,000 Vermonters. This is an absolute catastrophe for our hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Planned Parenthood clinics, and health care workforce, and it is time to fight back.</p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil fights for property tax relief by curbing runaway health care spending.</strong> </span>Patients at the University of Vermont Medical Center are being charged thousands of dollars more for care than patients at nearby hospitals, while health care executives are making millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses. This must end. <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil has been a champion of reference-based pricing and will work to ensure the legislation is a success.&nbsp;</strong></span></p><span class="image image-framed image-left image-tilt-left" style="width: 40%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/6a4cafd0-39e6-4677-8d5c-037a33718711/6a4cafd0-39e6-4677-8d5c-037a33718711.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3456&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="left" alignwidth="40" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Health care should be a universal, public good guaranteed for every American</strong></span>. We deserve a federal Medicare for All, single-payer, universal health care system with zero copays, premiums, and deductibles, but we need not wait for Washington to make structural changes to Vermont’s health care system. <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil will fight for<strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"> universal, publicly-funded primary care for all Vermonters </strong>as a first step in creating universal health care for all Vermonters</span>. This includes mental health and substance abuse treatment as well as  community nurses in every town. By removing the unnecessary and costly insurance middleman, this program will cut the cost of health care, reduce the risk of diseases and disabilities, improve health outcomes and life expectancy, and save lives.&nbsp;</p><p>Nikhil also fights to <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">protect our FQHCs and make investments in community-based care and wraparound health supports</strong></span> in public schools and child care centers.&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">He also fights to<strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"> crack down on price-gouging, protect Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights, expand pipelines into nursing and other critical fields, improve working conditions for staff, ban private equity from buying up nursing homes, and hold the UVM Health Network accountable to the mission of high-quality, affordable health care for all patients.&nbsp;</strong></span></p>

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<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Universal Health Care for Vermonters</span></h2>

<p>In 2024, Vermont passed a ban on cellphones in schools. This was a crucial first step. Social media has created a public health emergency. Unaccountable tech companies are exploiting our children for profit and driving them to self-harm, depression, suicide, and other mental health challenges. Nikhil calls on Vermont to <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">impose a ban on social media for children under the age of 16</strong></span><span style="color: var(--color-text-accent-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text-accent-primary);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text-accent-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text-accent-primary);">,</strong></span> following the lead of Australia and proposals from Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, and other nations. It’s time to take back control for the sake of our children’s health and well-being.&nbsp;</p><p>Nikhil supports <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">a moratorium on new data centers in Vermont</strong></span>. We need to enact clear guardrails for artificial intelligence that protect workers, students, power grids, and the public at large.</p><p>Nikhil calls for <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">a tax on the profits of Big Tech and AI</strong></span> to fund local journalism and support displaced workers. </p>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Ban Social Media for Kids and Tax Big Tech and AI</span></h2>

<p>As an educator, policymaker, and author, Nikhil has been fighting for public education his entire career. He opposed the passage of Vermont's new education reform law, Act 73, which is designed to take millions of dollars out of the Burlington, Winooski, and Essex schools. <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">There is no empirical evidence these reforms will reduce property taxes or improve our schools</strong></span>.&nbsp;</p><span class="image image-framed image-left image-tilt-left" style="width: 50%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/044df169-907f-4b31-8dbf-8651cd001584/044df169-907f-4b31-8dbf-8651cd001584.heic?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=96%2C160%2C2372%2C2009&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="Nikhil with Vermont-NEA President Don Tinney" align="left" alignwidth="50" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="">Nikhil with Vermont-NEA President Don Tinney</span></span><p>Nikhil <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">supports the recommendations of the School District Redistricting Task Force</strong></span> to reduce costs: voluntary district mergers and shared services such as transportation and special education.&nbsp;</p><p>Public dollars going to private schools, especially discriminatory religious schools,  grew more than 70 percent in the decade following 2008. <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Nikhil fights to keep public dollars in public schools, protect universal, free school meals, make investments in community schools and health and social supports that ensure children’s basic needs are met, and make nature-based, outdoor education a universal experience for our children.</span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">In recent years, Vermont has made historic investments in child care. Nikhil is a champion of <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">universal child care</strong>.</span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">The Legislature has taken some steps to change the property tax classification for second homes. Nikhil strongly supports <strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">taxing second homes more</strong> to help reduce homestead property taxes.</span></p><span class="image image-framed image-center" style="width: 60%;"><span class="image-inner-wrapper"><img src="https://run.imgix.net/44dc9aaf-252e-4685-9f6e-bd0e5260567c/b45e5674-a2ef-4e65-98fa-f6c1865077ee/b45e5674-a2ef-4e65-98fa-f6c1865077ee.png?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C1720%2C976&amp;w=1500" alt="" caption="" align="center" alignwidth="30" variant="framed"></span><span class="caption" style="display: none;"></span></span>

<p><strong>Write a little something about your issue here. </strong>You can only write about a paragraph here, but you can turn on an option to create full issues pages on the options sidebar of the issues page.</p>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Protect and Strengthen Public Schools&nbsp;</span></h2>

<p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">On Thursday, April 16, our campaign will be hosting a free community dinner and launch rally in Burlington from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Catered by Mountain Valley Restaurant in Winooski. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian options will be available. Plus dessert!</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Everyone is welcome. RSVPs are required so we can plan.</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">For any inquiries, please email: ngoyal2013@gmail.com.</strong></span></p>

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<h4>Free community dinner and launch rally in Burlington</h4>

<p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">On Thursday, April 16, our campaign will be hosting a free community dinner and launch rally in Burlington from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.</span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Catered by Mountain Valley Restaurant in Winooski. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian options will be available. Plus dessert!</span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Everyone is welcome. RSVPs are required so we can plan.</span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">For any inquiries, please email: ngoyal2013@gmail.com.</span></p>

<p>Green Mountain Transit is facing a major fiscal crisis, forcing the agency to reduce services. As your State Senator, Nikhil will work with lawmakers to <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">create a sustainable funding plan for public transit</strong></span>. Nikhil will also seek to <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">expand car-sharing programs to reduce car dependence</strong></span>.&nbsp;</p><p>Nikhil believes we need to expand our political imagination of what is possible. He fights to <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">restore passenger rail service from Burlington to Montreal</strong></span> to drive economic development and tourism and will work with federal, state, and local partners on a plan of action.</p>

<h2><span style="color: var(--color-headline-primary); text-decoration-color: var(--color-headline-primary);">Support Public Transit</span></h2>

<p>Vermont is one of the oldest states in the nation. According to a <a href="https://www.healthvermont.gov/sites/default/files/document/hsi-factsheet-healthy-aging-in-vermont.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recent brief</a>, "nearly one in three Vermont residents are age 60 or older." And we're aging fast.</p><p>Many older Vermonters are enduring economic hardship, health challenges, hunger, and social isolation and loneliness. Those who live on a fixed income are often struggling to afford the rent, mortgage payments, energy bills, health insurance, and prescription drugs.</p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">Our older Vermonters deserve to retire with dignity. Nikhil will always defend Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and support federal efforts to expand these programs.</strong></span></p><p><span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">My affordability agenda champions the needs of older Vermonters. </span>For example, fixing the housing crisis will allow older Vermonters to downsize into affordable houses and apartments, freeing up housing for families.</p><p>Nikhil is also a <span style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);"><strong style="color: var(--color-text); text-decoration-color: var(--color-text);">strong supporter of intergenerational child and adult care centers</strong></span> and has served on the board of Generations Vermont, which is working to establish such a program in central Vermont.</p>

<h2>Dignity for Older Vermonters</h2>

Sociology professor and policymaker Nikhil Goyal is running for Vermont State Senate to make sure no Vermonter is priced out.

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